University of Central Florida
On Sport and Society
Commentary
The Super Bowl
1-31-2014
Richard C. Crepeau
University of Central Florida, [email protected]
Find similar works at: http://stars.library.ucf.edu/onsportandsociety
University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu
Part of the Cultural History Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, Other History Commons,
Sports Management Commons, and the Sports Studies Commons
Recommended Citation
Crepeau, Richard C., "The Super Bowl" (2014). On Sport and Society. 104.
http://stars.library.ucf.edu/onsportandsociety/104
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Here we are once again at the most important weekend in American
sport. The Super Bowl is Sunday and that means that Americans
across the land will create scenes reminiscent of Thorstein
Veblen’s classic, The Theory of the Leisure Class. Veblen’s
original vocabulary describing the rich of the late 19th century
is as appropriate now as it was then. Such phrases as
“conspicuous consumption,” “conspicuous waste” and “conspicuous
leisure,” seem to have been coined for the Super Bowl.
Over the last XLVIII Super Bowls the pursuit of excess has
accelerated with each passing year. By Super Bowl III it was
attracting the attention of the media, and within short order
the media itself was a leading exponent of the excessive arts.
Game coverage increased, the number of cameras used by the
networks doubled and then tripled, and the number of reporters
and camera crews sent into action jumped geometrically. This
year FOX will use 52 cameras to capture the action live and with
endless replays that will blur time and leave the television
viewers reaching for another beer, preferably one from a game
sponsor.
One week of coverage seemed inadequate to an event of such
magnitude, and so two weeks were set aside for building the
hype. This of course in itself increased the importance of the
Super Bowl, as indeed no other sports event was given this
excessive treatment.
By Super Bowl V the orgiastic character of behaviors was well
entrenched in public practice. Television drove this runaway
train that quickly went over the cliff. New technologies offered
new ways of viewing the action, and that was important. However
it was not the game that the public came to focus upon, but on
the commercials. Two ways of measuring their importance were
readily available: the cost of making a commercial and the cost
of airtime to show it. Both showed steady growth and as it did
the public became more and more intrigued.
Some argue that commercials represent the best film-making in
the world today. That might be an overstatement, but not by
much. The quality and creativity of production is remarkable and
many of these short films can be recalled fondly by those who
have watched them over the last XLVII years. The Mean Joe Greene
Coke commercial, the Bud Bowl series, and the 1984 themed drama
for the Macintosh computer rollout directed by Ridley Scott, are
etched in many memory banks.
The commercials are now previewed on the internet and social
media, can be viewed indefinitely in post game time, are ranked
by viewers, analyzed by sociologist, and deconstructed by film
critics. More remarkable is a recent study showing that TV
ratings for the game increase during the commercial breaks.
Perhaps that is not remarkable at all as the game has become the
least important event of the weekend.
As to cost, airtime for a Super Bowl commercial is now running
at $4 million for a 30-second spot or $133,333 per second.
Excess? What Excess! Over the years the cost has moved steadily
upwards corresponding to the rise in the rights fees being paid
by the networks for the game and the number of people viewing
the game. In the last few years each Super Bowl has set a
ratings record and has become the most viewed program in the
history of television.
For those interested in conspicuous consumption Super Bowl week
offers a cornucopia of decadence and waste. It is difficult to
designate one type of event as the pace-setter but certainly the
corporate parties are in the vanguard. What began as the
Commissioner’s Super Bowl Party in 1978 at a cost of $75,000
drew critical comment for its excessive price tag. Within a few
years this party would move out of a hotel ballroom and move
into such venues as the Astrodome and the Miami International
Airport Terminal.
Others saw the beauty of this event and offered their own
parties. Corporations put up tents, ESPN initiated its party as
did other television networks. In recent years the most popular
parties have been hosted by skin magazines with Maxim and
Playboy the leaders.
Arrival at the Super Bowl became another means of display as the
number of jets and helicopters at the big game multiplied
geometrically. Once there, hotels were no longer adequate for
accommodation and were displaced by luxury yachts and mansions.
Excess came in many forms and some were quite ingenious. At
Super Bowl XXVI in Minneapolis 25 tons of heated sand was dumped
in the International Market Place so that a beach party could be
held on the frozen tundra. At Super Bowl XXII in San Diego a
Super Salad was tossed at a pre-game party in Tijuana. It was a
14-foot long, 8-foot wide, and 18-inches deep Caesar Salad made
from 840 heads of Romaine lettuce, 1,400 ounces of garlic oil,
175 lemons, 350 cups of croutons, 980 ounces of Parmesan cheese
and 840 eggs.
Middle class Americans joined the conspicuous spenders by paying
anywhere from $6,000 to $40,000 for ticket and accommodation
packages to take their families to Super Bowl XLII. Home Super
Bowl parties were another possibility for display as was proven
by an Ohio couple who annually decorated their home in football
décor. Drinks were chilled at this venue with football shaped
ice cubes which they starting making just after Thanksgiving.
Indeed most of those “watching” the game will do so at some sort
of party ranging in size from a few to a few hundred.
One of the unique excesses of Super Bowl XLVIII which is in New
Jersey but hosted by New York has been the nearly constant
references to the weather forecasts. Will it snow? Will it rain?
Will it set a new record low temperature for a Super Bowl? The
NFL’s idiotic decision to hold Super Bowl XLVIII outdoors in a
winter climatic city has produced one of the biggest
distractions in the history of this bloated event.
Perhaps that is a good thing or at least a Super Thing.
On Sport and Society this is Dick Crepeau reminding you that you
don’t have to be a good sport to be a bad loser.